Legislators: New Fairhaven-New Bedford bridge years away

NEW BEDFORD — Speculation about what a replacement New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge might look like has swirled since Mayor Jon Mitchell advocated for one in his State of the City address last month.

ARIEL WITTENBERG

NEW BEDFORD — Speculation about what a replacement New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge might look like has swirled since Mayor Jon Mitchell advocated for one in his State of the City address last month.

But New Bedford's state legislators said this week that even getting funding for such a project is a long way off.

Rep. William Straus, D-Mattapoisett, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, noted that almost no research has been conducted on the project, and that the Department of Transportation does not yet have an idea of what a new bridge might look like or how much it would cost.

Straus said even widening the bridge opening to allow large vessels through, as Mitchell advocates, is not so simple because of nearby businesses.

"The concept as advocated by the mayor in a funding sense does not exist," Straus said. "There is no dollar figure to advocate for. There is no one who can tell you what the project would need because it doesn't exist except in people's minds."

Indeed, no funding for the bridge was included in the transportation bond bill recently passed by the state legislature or the Department of Transportation's five-year budget plan released last month.

Department of Transportation Spokesman Michael Verseckes said the department has begun a planning study to engage New Bedford and Fairhaven residents in what needs a new bridge would have to serve.

He said a new bridge is only in "the beginning stages of the planning and design process, which can take several years."

Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, said that even if there was a determined price tag for the bridge, getting funding for the project would be almost impossible before money is spent on South Coast Rail.

He said it is simply unlikely that the Legislature would agree to bond money for two large projects in the region, and even less likely that a governor would agree to spend on both.

"That doesn't mean the bridge idea shouldn't progress until South Coast Rail is running to New Bedford, but I don't want to let any major project distract us from rail," he said.

Montigny said he agreed with Mitchell that a new bridge is needed in order to accommodate large boats in the upper harbor and to spur economic development, but said the mayor must consider the project as part of a "long list of priorities for the region."

"You can give as many state of the cities as you want, but it's years and years down the road," he said.

For his part, Mitchell said he does not see why the city could not advocate for the bridge and South Coast Rail at the same time, saying, "It's not an either-or proposition."

"We have a problem smack dab in the middle of our harbor that we need to deal with," he said.

Mitchell predicted that a new bridge would be "a fraction of the cost" of South Coast Rail, and that other than dealing with transportation, the two projects are "apples and oranges" that cannot be compared.